This spring, Easton Training Center gained another black belt — Professor Mallory Martin, a professional MMA fighter and Centennial Kids BJJ Coach who has trained in both Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu for over the last 12 years.
Prior to martial arts, Mallory played soccer, volleyball and basketball throughout school and ran track and did powerlifting in high school.
“When I tried out for soccer,” Mallory tells us, “I had never played before, but I was so aggressive that I could slide tackle people, keep them away and let the good girl keep the ball. I would get red-carded nearly every time.”
Senior year, she began training at Zingano’s, a BJJ and MMA school run by former UFC fighter Cat Zingano and her husband.
Cat became a role model for Mallory, who had decided she wanted to become a professional fighter. She’d have basketball practice from 3-6PM, then drive from school to Zingano’s where she would train from 6:30-9PM.
After graduating high school, Mallory dove into martial arts fully. When she began training professionally, she’d spend between six to nine hours a day at the academy, training Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu – whatever was available.
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Though Mallory does not feel the constant need to prove herself, she does occasionally experience imposter syndrome. Leading up to one fight, she had taken 14 months off. When she came back for the fight, she found herself nervous for both that one and the subsequent one.
She kept telling herself, “This is just what you do. You go out and you compete. This is what you do.”
When it came time to fight, she was nowhere near nervous.
Mallory’s MMA background has always informed her relationship to the community and identity within it. Rather than being solely entrenched in the social aspect of Easton, she has become more of a bridge between the neighborhood Easton studio and the bigger MMA community.
Some photos of her March belt promotion, taken by Collin Perryman. (link)
Featured:
Eliot Marshall. Mallory Martin. Peter Straub.
